Unexpected Soul
by liliofthevaley
Summary: Helen Magnus wakes up in a mysterious time to a mysterious stranger. But there's something about him that calls to her. Who is he and what does he mean to her?


**Unexpected Soul**

Whatever she expected to see – and she had 157 years of sights to go on – it certainly wasn't the pair of intense blue eyes that stared back at her. Blinking her own eyes in return and trying to get a hold of her surroundings, she gave a small gasp as she took in the rest of the men's features. He was ruggedly handsome, dark hair a little over his shoulders, a day's worth of stubble lined his strong jaw and his eyes, the intensity behind them captured her at once.

"Milady, are you alright?" he asked, in a tender voice that managed to convey safety and reassurance as he continued to gaze into her eyes, concern shown at her trough them.

Helen managed to pry her gaze away from his and did an internal check, assessing for any serious injuries. Her breath hitched when she realized that one of his hands was holding her by her waist, his strong arms easily supporting her lighter frame. They were lying on the ground, well, she was lying, and he was sitting, on what appeared to be grass and some over-grown weeds.

She shook her head to indicate that there was nothing serious with her, but this caused a burst of pain to shoot trough her head and she winced at the pain, closing her eyes. Suddenly she felt the hand that wasn't holding her by the waist runs its fingers trough her hair and she found herself sighing unexpectedly. Opening her eyes again she noticed that he was staring with worried eyes at a point somewhere above her forehead. He drew back his fingers and she could see blood on them and raised her own hand to confirm the cut she most probably had.

"Wait here." He said, and gently laid her down on the grass again, as he raised himself off the ground and went in the direction of a white horse she then noticed.

While he rummaged trough one of the bags hanging from the horse's saddle, Helen took the opportunity to study her surroundings, trying to remember how she had come to be in this position. Trying to run trough the days event for any indication of what had happened, she realized that she had no memory of the last days and slowly began to panic. Slowly getting up and holding her head with one of her hands, she began to notice that the vegetation was thick and that she didn't have any weapons with her.

At that moment the man came back to her, seeing she was standing he made to grab her arm, but she pulled it away.

"Stay away from me." She ordered, putting distance between herself and this strange man.

If he choosed to fight her she had no way of defending herself and she trembled at the thought of what could happen to her then. He looked at her with bewildered eyes, slowly coming towards her with his hands raised, a small bag in one of them.

"Milady…" He said once more, a frown crossing over his eyes as he continued to come towards her.

Looking into his eyes once more Helen staggered to stay up right as she tripped on a root by her feet, he moved to catch her and she pulled back again.

"Stop! Don't come any closer." She said again and this time he actually did stop and so did she.

They stayed that way, staring at each other as he desperately searched her eyes for an explanation.

"Helen…" He said, surprising her with the knowledge of her name.

'Who was he and how did he know who she was?' Helen tried to keep the shock of his revelation under control as she kept looking into his blue eyes.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, trying to maintain her voice steady as she spoke.

The more she stared into his blue eyes the more messed up her feelings became. There was something about him that called to her, yet she couldn't figure out what it was. While her mind told her that it was foolish to lower her defense, there was another part of her that kept shouting at her that there was nothing to fear, that she was safe here, with this men, whoever he was. As long as he was around, nothing would harm her. Looking at him again, Helen noticed that her question had brought a small smile to the men's face.

"You must have hit your head pretty strongly Milady…"

"You haven't answered my question." She replied, noticing that he had begun to make his way towards her once more, while she, surprisingly, remained where she was, allowing him to come near her.

Helen was frozen to the spot she was in, her head a mess of emotions and thoughts, some shouting at her to maintain distance between them while others confirmed that everything was going to be okay. He stopped in front of her then, blue eyes staring deeply into her own as he slowly raised one hand to push her hair away from her face again. She let him as she continued to stare at his face, trying to understand why he had suddenly started to feel familiar to her. He brought his head to rest against hers, foreheads touching as his fingers continued to play with her hair.

"I know a lot about you Helen, some would say everything there is to know about someone, in a certain extent. Yet I know that trying to figure out everything about you would be like trying to learn all the knowledge of the elves, impossible in its on task, but none the less magnificent to have been given such opportunity." His soft whisper and caress made her close her eyes, the power behind his words were immense and she felt her heart soaring.

"Who are you?" Helen asked, eyes still closed, her own hand had come to join his on the side of her face and she held on as if her whole life depended on it. Slowly opening her eyes once more to look into his soft ones she unknowingly held her breath as she waited for him to answer her.

"I'm your Aragorn." He whispered softly, making her heart soar once more as he smiled down at her, intertwining his fingers in her own.

As if a spell had been broken Helen found herself being bombarded with feelings and thought she didn't understand, but knew to be true. This was Aragorn. How could she have forgotten that…But who was he exactly and why did he mean so much to her?

"Aragorn" She whispered, throat clenching as she looked up at him.

Her awareness of his name managed to make him smile again and with his lead she sat once more on the grass while he tended to her head wound. While he worked, skillfully and gentle, Helen desperately tried to recall how she could _feel _like she knew him, yet have no actual memory of ever knowing him.

"Where am I?" Helen asked, studying Aragorn sideways as he tended to her head wound.

"We are just beyond the realms of Gondor, you gave me quite a fright taking off like that Helen." He replied.

'Gondor?' Helen thought, 'Where on earth was that?' Pulling back from him slightly, causing him to stare at her, she voiced her thoughts.

"I've never heard of a city called that before, what country is this?"

"Country?" Aragorn asked her, brows furrowed "This is Middle Earth."

"Middle Earth?" Helen shouted in surprise, quickly trying to stand again, but being stopped by Aragorn's strong hands holding her immobile.

He looked at her in alarm as Helen felt herself panicking again. 'Where was she, who was this man that her soul managed to recognize, yet her mind couldn't grasp. Why didn't she remember anything about him and this place and why was she alone?' Looking around herself in panic again Helen stood up, taking Aragorn with her as he kept a strong hold on her arms.

"How did I come here? Where are Ashley and Will and Henry? Take me back to the Sanctuary." Helen shouted at Aragorn as he continued to stare at her as if she had gone insane. Helen tried to pry out of his arms as she continued to shout "John? Nikola?"

Aragorn then took strong of her arms and shook her slightly, making her look at him.

"Helen, what are you talking about? Who are these strange names you search for? What is this Sanctuary? Why are you so frightened?" Aragorn tried to look into her eyes, but before he realized what had happened she had ducked under his arms and broken free from his grasp.

Quickly running towards his horse, she spotted his sword hanging from the saddle and quickly reached for it, turning to face him again.

"Stay away from me." She ordered again, her head was pounding but she ignored this as she kept a strong hold on the sword that was immensely heavier then she had first figured it to be.

Aragorn stared at her with alarmed eyes and a serious face as he continued to approach her while remaining far away for the blade to reach him.

"Helen, have you gone mad?" He shouted at her as she continued to point his own sword at his chest. Helen kept her eyes trained on him as her arms were quickly tiring from the weight of the grand sword.

"Don't come any closer, I want answers and you're going to give them me now!" Helen shouted back at him. "Where am I? Who do you work for? Are you Cabal? What have you done to my staff?"

"What nonsense is this you continue to speak of?" Aragorn demanded in return, his quick ranger eyes having already picked up on the strain that holding his sword was having on Helen.

What had happened to her? Why was she treating him as if he worked for Sauron himself? This last thought made his heart clench and he raised his arms as he cautiously tried to approach her again.

"Helen, listen to me, I beg of you, you are not well, lower your weapon. I mean you no harm. Trust me… Don't you trust me?" Aragorn spoke softly, not moving, just starring into her beautiful blue eyes begging her to listen to his words.

Helen found herself unwilling drown to the force of his eyes and as exhaustion came upon her, she found herself lowering the sword to the ground and starring out at him.

Taking a deep breath and cursing her body's betrayal once more, she looked back at Aragorn as he slowly approached her. Feeling her head began to spin and her vision start to blur she tried to maintain her composer, but knew it was useless. With one last look at Aragorn's blue eyes and praying that her feelings wouldn't betray her, Helen let down her barriers.

"Help me…" she whispered, moments before being engulfed by darkness.

The last thing she felt before completely passing out were his strong arms catching her once more before she hit the ground and then everything dissolved into darkness.

**End of Part I**

She had a brutal headache, that was a given, it was the first thing Helen noticed when slowly coming back to consciousness. Keeping still and her eyes closed as to not alert others to her state of awareness, a useful tactic she had learned over the years, Helen tried to figure out where she was. It was silent, she couldn't hear footsteps or voices, she was lying down on what appeared to be some sort of bed, with soft pillows and a small blanket pulled over her body.

'Well, if I'm in some sort of prison, this certainly isn't the worst jail I've been in' Helen mused to herself. Trying her head ever so softly, she slowly opened her eyes enough to peek out of them and look around. It was night time, from what she could tell of the faint blue glow coming from one of the windows. Opening her eyes fully now, Helen lifted her head and surveyed her surrounding with more interest. It appeared she was in some sort of room, but the decoration in it was nothing she had ever seen before.

The walls were a soft cream color, with bright windows that gave way into a beautiful lit-up garden, whose beautifulness was noticed even at night. The furniture seemed to be made all of wood, but it was unlike any carvings she had seen before, these seemed to be hand made with the most beautiful engravings in them. As for the rest of the room, pillows and rugs covered the floor, while curtains of also rich material hanged from the windows and from the ceiling. It was a breathtaking room.

Looking around the room once more, Helen slowly sat up, taking one of the pillows in her hand and tracing one of the silk patterns with her finger. Standing up and making her way to the dress she inspected the carvings on it, trying to make sense of the drawings there. She peered at them closely, studying the engravings, hoping to obtain some sort of clue as to where she was. Everything about this room seemed like a dream.

She then noticed what she was wearing; it was a long blue dress, made of velvet and silk with intrinsic designs made with a gold color. It was long sleeved and reached down all the way to her feet. The sleeves itself were made of a softer, lighter material, that fell from her arms when she lifted them. 'Dear God', she thought, 'I'm in a Renaissance fair'.

Suddenly, a noise behind her made Helen stand up suddenly and turn around, her hands searching for any object that could be used as a weapon. Looking up as someone knocked on the door, Aragorn poked his head into the room, smiling as he saw that she was awake and standing.

"Milday…How are you felling?" He asked, as he cautiously approached her, seeing that she still seemed to have a guarded face on.

Helen turned her head, surveying him from afar, when he came towards her she raised her head, bringing the object as a shield between them. Aragorn looked at the hair brush that she wielded between them, giving it an amused glance as he crossed his arms over his chest. Helen herself was staring at the hair brush and after a few seconds put it on the dresser again, sitting down onto the bed once more and letting out an exasperated sigh.

Aragorn approached her then, sitting down beside her, taking one of her hands into his, which she let. Because she was acting like a fool and while she couldn't explain it, Helen trusted Aragorn with everything in her and for the moment she was just to tired to understand things. He played with her fingers, looking up at her and asking again.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit tired, to be honest, and my head hurts." She replied, sighing again. She'd never really been found of headaches. "I could use some aspirins."

"I know not what these…aspirins are, but I did bring you some herbs that when boiled are known to lessen the ache." Aragorn said, choosing not to ask about her strange request, Helen has always been a strange one.

"Boiled herbs…So tea?" Helen grinned, thinking that a good cup of tea was exactly what she needed right then. Aragorn chuckled at this, displaying a beautiful smile that made her heart skip a beat or two.

"Yes, tea…Although Elrond wouldn't approve of his remedies being referenced as mere 'tea'." Aragorn smiled at her, causing Helen to smile back. "I've missed your smile Helen."

It was a simple declaration, really, more like stating a fact then an actual declaration, but the caress in which he said it and the adoring look in his eyes was enough to make Helen blush and bow her head to his gaze. 'What has gotten into me?' Helen thought, she was a modern women, such open admiration shouldn't cause her to act like a first love-stricken little girl. Aragorn brought his hand to Helen's face, making her face him.

"Have you really no recollection of me Helen? Of whom I am, of what I mean to you and you to me?" His voice was smooth as always, his touch gentle and kind and she wanted nothing more then to deny what he was saying.

"I…I don't know." She whispered, fighting to keep her voice even. "A part of me knows that I have nothing to fear being with you, but another part of me simply can't wrap me head around it. I have no memory of you Aragorn or this place. What does that say about me? This whole thing seems like a dream."

"It says you are not well, which is the truth Helen, you have not been well since the Bolgor attacked you all those months ago…But you are improving." Aragorn answered her. This piece of information made Helen look at him with wide eyes, her thoughts more confused then before.

"What attacked me? A…Bolgor? What is that, what happened to me Aragorn?"

"Your memory on the incidents details have yet to return I suppose." He said, sighing and turning his body towards her, pulling her into his embrace. Taking a deep breath he began to talk.

"A few months ago, you were out on one of your many trips throughout the borders of the city. I warned you not to go, that there were strange rumors flying about, but like usual you paid me no attention, insisting that you were no scared little girl, but a full out women who could take care of herself…" this made Aragorn chuckle again and Helen grinned with him.

"That does sound like something I would say…"

"Indeed it does. So you left for the day, taking Melia with you and off the two of you went to 'explore the great unknowns'. I'm not certain on the details, but a couple of hours later one of the city guards came to tell us that you were in trouble, do I rode off and when I found you, you were between life and death…" His voice trailed off then, tightening his hold on her ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much pain…" Helen replied, her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She still didn't understand everything that had happen, but things seemed to make some sort of sense now, and for that she was thankful. Aragorn smiled down at her again, pressing a small kiss o her head.

"There was nothing you could have done about it Helen, I am just glad to have you here in my arms again. For the following weeks Elrond tended to you himself, hoping to bring you out of your sleep induced state. You were quite restless most of the time, tossing and turning and whispering strange names." This made her look up at him and searched his eyes while she asked.

"What type of names?"

"Similar to the ones you shouted at me when I found you right now. Ashley? I believe, that one you said quite a few times, usually with great fondness, she must have been very dear to you while you were dreaming. The word 'abnormal' and 'sanctuary' were also in there sometimes…"

"Wait, what? What are you saying?" Helen sat up then, looking at him with scared eyes. "What do you mean, I was dreaming? That is my world Aragorn, where I am from. Ashley is my daughter and the Sanctuary is my life's work." She shouted, standing up and turning her back to him, causing Aragorn to sigh.

"Helen we have been over this countless times before, those were dreams, they may have felt real, but they were no more then a lost memory."

"How can they not have been real, I know what I saw, I know what I lived, it was not a dream!" She argued back, turning to face him once more. "It was my life, the one I intend to go back to, with or without your help!".

"And what about me Helen? Where do I fit into this dream life of yours? Are you so anxious to leave me and our home behind that you have to create a fictional world to escape into?" Aragorn began shouting back at her then, his patience wearing thin.

"How is it that I can recall every detail about this 'so-called' fictional life, yet have no single memory of who you are?" Helen shouted back at him, wondering how they had gone from embracing each other on the bed to a shouting match.

"Do you really have no memory of me Helen? Then how is it that I know the way your face lights up when you smile, the way your eyes turn dark when you're hurting. How can I sense your presence in a room without even having to stare your way. The way your lips taste, the way you feel under me, calling out my name. Tell me Helen, look me in the eyes and tell me you don't recall anything that we have lived together!"

Helen stared at him in silent, half shocked and half in awe. Aragorn stood in front of her, breathing heavily, his eyes practically burning holes into her own as he awaited her answer. She didn't know how to answer him, she was still trying to assimilate everything that he had confessed. A part of her knew she must have hurt him when admitting that this wasn't real, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that all her life had been nothing more then a dream. It just wasn't possible, her friends, her family, Ashley, her whole life couldn't possibly just be a figment of a dream.

She didn't know what to think, she didn't _want_ to think about it. Everything was a mess and for the next few moments Helen just wanted to escape both worlds, real or not. She looked back at Aragorn, who was still watching her attentively, awaiting her response.

"Where are we now, Aragorn?" She asked, softly, 'causing him to raise his eyebrows in confusion."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, this place, this room. Is it our room?" Helen asked again, watching as Aragorn nodded at her, his eyes still confused.

Helen gave him a small smile, slowly making her way towards him. Aragorn stared at her as if she'd lost her mind again, but remained silent as she came to stand in front of him once more. Bringing her arms to rest on his shoulders, Helen took his face and caressed it with one of her hands, playing with his hair.

"I am sorry for all of this Aragorn, I truly am…"

Before he could say anything or ask her what had gotten into her this time, Helen closed the distance between them and kissed him with everything she had. Aragorn was dumbfounded for only a few seconds before he was pulling him towards him and kissing her back. She didn't know the _'how's'_ or the _'why's'_, but Helen couldn't deny that kissing Aragorn was like coming home after a long time away.

He was like a warm summer breeze or a warm cup of tea, he was gentle and sweet and suffocated her with his scent. For that moment, no matter what her rational mind could try to tell her, she couldn't deny that a part of her belonged right there, in his arms while he slowly kissed her senseless.

**End of Part II**


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